The Ransom in Akkadian Texts

Abstract

Social phenomena were common in the societies of the ancient Orient and continued over time until the modern era, including the phenomenon of ransom, linked to a situation in which there was a forced kidnapping, then the demand for ransom in the form of a sum of money to release the kidnapped, and it usually occurs in societies in which the ruling political power weakens or collapses, Then groups outside the laws and customs appear, and are active in the periphery areas, where they resort to killing, kidnapping, looting and theft. Ransom was known in the Akkadian language as ipṭi/erum, and the phenomenon spread during the second millennium B.C, in many separate areas of the ancient Orient (northern Mesopotamia, Anatolia, and Canaan), so what are its causes, how were its procedures and payment of the required sum and what is its relation to the situation Social and political, and what is the position of the rulers of it? This is what the research tries to clarify by presenting the Akkadian textual evidence that indicated or documented the case of the ransom, and then extrapolated it to extract general information related to it.